Door locking device

ABSTRACT

A DEVICE MOUNTABLE IN A DOOR JAMB AND INCLUDING SHAFT WHICH IS ROTATABLE FROM THE INTERIOR OF THE ROOM, AND ALSO FROM THE ROOM EXTERIOR BY MEANS OF A KEY, THE SHAFT HAVING A LOCKING CAM ON THE PERIPHERY THEREOF. A LATCH BOLT IS MOUNTED IN AN EDGE OF THE DOOR JAMB TO ENGAGE AN ADJACENT DOOR EDGE AND HOLD THE DOOR CLOSED, THE LATCH BOLT NORMALLY BEING RELEASED BY ACTUATION OF A DOOR MOUNTED SET. THE LOCKING CAM ENGAGES A PART CARRIED BY THE LATCH BOLT TO LOCK THE BOLT IN ENGAGED POSITION UNTIL THE SHAFT IS ROTATED BY APPROPRIATE TURNING MOVEMENT APPLIED TO EITHER END OF THE SHAFT.

Oct. 12, 1971 Filed Oct. 31, 1969 5- G. MBURNIE ETAL DOOR LOOKING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ulvlu'ron STUART 6. MGBURNIE WILLIAM G. FORTT MICHEL L. E. ROCHER ATTORNI-f.

United States Patent O 3,611,762 DOOR LOCKING DEVICE Stuart G. McBurnie, Burnaby, William G. Fortt, Port Coquitlam, and Michel L. E. Rocher, Vancouver,

British Columbia, Canada, assignors to Velto Industries Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Filed Oct. 31, 1969, Ser. No. 872,806 Int. Cl. Ec 3/22 U.S. Cl. 70-150 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE bolt is mounted in an edge of the door jamb to engage an adjacent door edge and hold the door closed, the latch bolt normally being released by actuation of a door mounted set. The locking cam engages a part carried by the latch bolt to lock the bolt in engaged position until the shaft is rotated by appropriate turning movement applied to either end of the shaft.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to door locking devices and more particularly to a device for providing added security to a conventionally latched or locked door.

Many of the lock and latch sets presently installed on exterior and other doors can be broken to gain admission if sufficient force is used on the handle knob. Illegal entry into a building can often be gained simply by using a wrench as a lever on the outer handle knob to snap the mechanism so that the door is released. A burglar will sometimes use a jimmy to apply sufficient force to break the door locking mechanism. Another widely used method to gain entry is to employ a strip of plastic or similar material, the strip being inserted between edges of the door and jamb to retract a bolt carried by the door out of engagement with the door jamb.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present door locking device circumvents these and other widely used methods of gaining illegal entry into a house or other building by providing a door jamb supported device which offers a much greater resistance to forced entry than does a conventional set. The latching bolt of the device is hidden and has a positive locking action which makes it impossible to retract by means of a plastic strip. The exterior portions of the device are substantially flush with the door jamb so that a wrench or other tool cannot readily be used on the device itself. If such a tool is used on a handle knob of the conventional door set which is used in conjunction with the present device the door remains locked and cannot be forced open even if the door set is broken or even completely removed from the door. The device can be locked and unlocked from the exterior by use of a key, but if necessary, the key operated mechanism can be disconnected from the remainder of the device to prevent illegal entry by someone attempting to pick the lock.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates portions of a door and a door jamb, the former being fitted with a latch set and the latter with a door locking device in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the 3,611,762 Patented Oct. 12, 1971 line 22 of FIG. 1, and showing the device in locked position,

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2, but showing the device in the unlocked position,

FIG. 4 is a transverse section taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 5 is a vertical section taken on the line 5--5 of FIG. 3,

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 4, and

FIG. 7 is a transverse section taken on the line 77 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates a door which, by way of example, may be considered a front door of the house, the door being fitted with a latch set 11. The door 10 is hung in the usual frame 12 having a jamb 14 which preferably is spaced from the adjacent cripple stud 15 of the wall framing 16 to provide a transversely extending opening 17, see particularly FIG. 2. Door jamb 14 has opposite or inside and outside faces 20 and 21 as well as a side face 22, see FIG. 2. A rebate 23 is formed in face 22 to provide a door stop 24. Opening 17 is provided with a smaller branch opening 17A which is formed at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the larger opening to extend into the rebate 23.

Normally, both faces 20 and 21 of the door jamb have strips of trim 25 and 26, see particularly FIGS. 3 and 5, and in this instance, these trim strips are cut away in the vicinity of the opening 17 to provide cut-outs 27 and 28 which allow the present apparatus to seat properly against said opposite faces of the door jamb.

The numeral 30 indicates generally a door locking device which is made entirely of plastic with the exception of two fastening members to be later described. Device 30 comprises inner and outer escutcheon blocks 32 and 33 which have holes 34 and 35 formed therein. The blocks 32 and 33 are set into the cut-outs 27 and 28 with the holes 34 and 35 aligned with the opening 17. Thus, the two escutcheon blocks are supported, in part at least, by the trim strips 25 and 26 and the blocks are also clamped to the faces 20 and 21 of the door jamb as will be described later.

The device 30 includes a shaft 40 which projects through the bearing hole 34 in the inner escutcheon block so as to be slidably and rotatably mounted therein. Shaft 40 has an inner end 42 on which a knob 43 is integrally formed. Preferably, knob 43 has a large circular flange 43A disposed at right angles to the longitudinal axis of said shaft, and a centrally disposed rib 43B which projects inwardly so that it can be gripped by the fingers. The knob 43 provides a convenient means for gripping the inner end 42 of the shaft whereby said shaft can be rotated, or pushed and pulled endwise, from the interior of the room guarded by the door 10-.

The door locking device 30 also includes means generally indicated at 46 for turning the shaft 40 from outside the room. The turning means 46 illustrated in the drawings comprises a lock mechanism 48 which can be any one of a number of standard locks presently on the market and designed for installation in doors and the like. The lock mechanism 48 illustrated in the drawings andshown best in FIG. 3, comprises a cylindrical body 49 on which an outer flange 50 is formed. Block 48 projects through the opening 35 in the outer escutcheon block,

A slot 54 is provided in the barrel 52 to receive a key 55. When the tumblers of the lock mechanism 48 are actuated by entering the key 55 into the slot 54, the barrel 52 and the tang 53 can be rotated usually through approximately 90 by means of said key. In most locks, the key is entered into the slot in a vertical position and preferably is turned to a horizontal position to release the lock mechanism. Normally, the mechanism is spring loaded in such a way that the key is returned to the vertical position once turning pressure is removed, thus enabling the key to be readily withdrawn from the slot. Since this type of locking mechanism is quite well known, further description of its construction and operation is not considered necessary.

The turning means 46 also includes an adapter pin 60, see particularly FIG. 6. The cylindrical pin 60 is rotatably as well as slidably mounted in a cylindrical bore 61 formed in outer end 62 of the shaft. A vertically disposed flange 64 is provided on the projecting end of the pin 60 and this flanged end has a longitudinal recess 65 which is rectangular in cross section, as is the tang 53 of the lock mechanism. Tang 53 projects into recess 65 as shown best in FIG. 6 and it will be noted that said tang is a press fit therein, while adapter pin 60 is free to move within the bore 61. Thus, when the shaft 40 is moved endwise, the pin 60 remains fixed to the tang 53 and slides outwardly of the bore 61.

Flange 64 has an inwardly projecting drive lug 67 which is segmentally shaped as shown in FIG. 4. End 62 of the shaft has an outwardly projecting driven lug 68 which normally is engaged by the drive lug 67. Lug 68 is arcuate in shape, see FIG. 4, and the circumferential length of this lug, or the spacing between the drive and driven lugs, is such to permit substantially 90 of relative rotation between the adapter pin 60 and the shaft 40. Thus, when the key 55 is released after operating the lock mechanism 46, the adapter pin 60 is free to turn 90 without imparting any rotation to the shaft. In other words, the shaft 40 can be turned independently from either end by using the knob 43 or the turning means 46 and, of course, said shaft can also be pulled out or pushed in by means of said knob.

The inner block 32, outer block 33, and lock mechanism 48, are secured together by clamping means generally indicated at 70. As shown best in FIGS. 2 and 3, the clamping means 70 comprises a pair of bolts 71 having slotted heads 72 and threaded ends 73. The bolts 71 project through holes 75 formed in the block 32 with the slotted heads 72 being suitably countersunk into said lock. It will be noted, the heads 72 of the clamping bolts are largely hidden from view by the flange 43A of the knob 43 and normally said heads are not accessible to a tool such as a screwdriver as long as the shaft remains in the innermost position shown in FIG. 2. Body 49 of the lock mechanism has threaded blind holes 76 and the end 73 of the bolts are received in these holes. Thus, when the bolts 71 are made extensible as shown best in FIG. 3. 33, and the lock mechanism 48, are secured together as a unit with said blocks being tightly clamped to the opposite faces 20 and 21 of the door jamb. On the jambcontacting face of the block 33, there are a pair of vertically spaced teeth 77, see FIG. 2, which teeth bite into the face 21 of the door jamb to keep said block properly aligned and further supported against rotation.

Since door jambs will vary in thickness to some extent, the bolts 71 are made extensible as shown best in FIG. 3. This is done by construction each bolt of two parts 71A and 71B with the ends of these parts being threadly connected together as at 71C. Thus, the pair of bolts 71 can be adjusted as to length to fit a variety of door jamb thicknesses.

Because of the aforesaid variation, the shaft 40 also is made up of two connecting parts 40A and 40B, see FIG. 3. The adjacent ends of the shaft parts 40A and 40B have threaded bores 78 and 79. A plug 80, the ends 81 and 82 of which have Opposite hand threads, is lodged in the bores 78 and 79. Suitable means, not shown, is provided whereby the shaft parts can be locked against relative rotation. This arrangement enables the shaft 40 to be extended or contracted to fit a number of door jambs thicknesses.

The shaft 40 is provided with a locking cam 84, see FIGS. 2, 3 and 7, which preferably is integrally formed on the periphery of said shaft. Cam 84 is spaced a short distance from the knob 43 so that it can be brought into register with the branch opening 17A in the door jamb by rotation of the shaft 40. Since the shaft 40 has to be entered end 62 first through the bearing hole 34, in block 32, said block is provided with the cam-shaped hole 85 (FIG. 5) which extends into the side of said bearing hole. Cam 84 is entered through this hole 85 as said shaft is moved endwise into the required position.

The door jamb 14 is fitted with a plate 86, see FIGS. 2 and 7, which plate is suitably secured within the rebate 23. Desirably, plate 86 is also secured to an overlapping edge of the inner block 32 by means of vertically spaced dowels 87, see FIG. 2 only. Plate 86 has a central and rectangular opening 88 and mounted in this opening is a latch bolt 90. The box-like bolt 90 is provided with vertically disposed pintles 91 which are shown in FIG. 7, the pintles being located near inner edge 92 of said bolt and being mounted in sockets 93 formed in the upper and lower edges of the opening 88. The pintles 91 permit the latch bolt 90 to swing from a position where it is entirely enclosed within the opening 88 to the outwardly projecting position shown in FIGS. 2 and 7 and, in this latter position, the outer or free edge 94 of the bolt is disposed within the rebate 23 and at an angle to the adjacent face of the plate 86. Resilent means is provided for biasing the bolt 90 away from the shaft 40 or so that it normally assumes the aforesaid outwardly projecting position, and the preferred means is a small plastic tensioner 96 (FIGS. 2 and 7 only) which is secured to the plate 86 to project across the opening 88. The free end 97 of this tensioner bears against the latch bolt 90 near the axes of the pintles 91 to urge said bolt outwardly of the opening 88.

A stop 101 is provided on the latch bolt 90, see FIGS. 2 and 7. Preferably, stop 101 is formed integrally with the bolt 90 and, as shown in FIG. 2, it is disposed at an angle which projects in through the branch opening 17A into the vicinity of the shaft 40. The stop 101 has an inner or cam end 102 which is curved in the same manner as the locking cam 84, see FIG. 7. The length and angularity of the stop 101 is such that the cam end 102 will clear the periphery of the shaft 40 and allow the latch bolt 90 to swing inwardly to a position where it is parallel to the plate 86. When the bolt 90 is in its normal or outwardly projecting position (FIG. 2) the cam end 102 is located in the path of the locking cam 84.

Shaft 40 is adapted to be turned between the unlocked position shown in FIG. 3 and the locked position shown best in FIG. 2. In the unlocked position, the rib 43B of the knob is vertically disposed and the cam 84 is beneath the shaft 40. Rib 43B is horizontally disposed when the shaft is rotated clockwise (FIG. 7) to the locked position whereby to place the locking cam 84 in contact with the cam end 102 of the stop 101. This locks the latch bolt 90 against swing movement inwardly into the opening 88 and into parallelism with the plate 86. The shaft 40 also is adapted to be pulled away from the innermost position shown in FIG. 2 for example, where the flange 43A of the knob is in contact with the block 32, to a position as shown by dotted lines in FIG. 3 where said flange is spaced a short distance from said block. In the former position, the drive and driven lugs 67 and 68 are engaged so that the shaft 40 is connected to the turning means 46 In the latter position, the drive and driven lugs 67 and 68 are disengaged and the shaft 40 can no longer be rotated by the turning means 46. These two positions of the shaft 40 will henceforth be referred to as the connected and disconnected positions. When shaft 40 is pulled to the disengaged position, cam 84 can still engage the stop 101 since the cam is sufiiciently long to so engage in either position.

The construction of the device 30 is such that the shaft 40 cannot normally be rotated beyond the locked and unlocked positions, nor can it be pushed or pulled beyond the connected and disconnected positions, but in order to avoid undue strain on the several parts, and particularly the tang 53 and the stop 101, device is provided with additional means generally indicated at 110 in FIG. 3 for limiting movement of the shaft 40 relative to the inner escutcheon block in which said shaft is rotatably and slidably mounted.

In FIGS. 3 and 5, means 110 is shown to comprise an H-sha-ped passageway 112 which is formed on the periphery of the shaft 40 near the knob 43. This passageway 112 is made up of parallel channels 114 and 115 with a connecting channel 116 extendingtherebetween at midlength. A longitudinally extending channel 118 is also formed on the shaft to connect one end of channel 115 with the end 62 of the shaft.

The inner block 32 has a key 120, see FIG. 5 only, which projects radially into the hole 34 near the outer face of said block. Key 120 is adapted to travel through the channel 118 when the shaft 40 is entered end 62 first through the hole 34 with the cam 84 passing through the hole 85. Once key 120 is within channel 115, the shaft 40 can be turned 45 clockwise (FIG. 7) to dispose said key in alignment with channel 116 whereupon said shaft can be pushed inwardly to place said key in channel 114. When key 120 is in channel 114, the shaft is rotatable through 90 between the locked and unlocked position. The same degree of rotation can be given to the shaft 40 when the key 120 is lodged in channel 115 which is the case when said shaft is pulled outwardly to the disconnected position.

As shaft 40 is turned between the locked and unlocked positions, the key 120 travels through channel 114 and halts rotation of said shaft after approximately 90 of travel. In order to move the shaft 40 to the disconnected position, said shaft is turned 45 in the appropriate direction from either the locked or unlocked positions to align the cross channel 116 with the key 120 whereupon said shaft can be pulled outwardly to place said key within the channel 115. The shaft 40 can then be turned again through 90 with the key 120 travelling through the channel 115 to bring rotation to a halt when the shaft again is in the locked or unlocked positions. Thus, the means 110 limits both rotation and endwise movement of the shaft to take a large part of the strain off other parts of the apparatus.

The latch set 11 of this particular example of the use of the present invention comprises a pressure pin 130 such as is shown in FIG. 2. Pin 130 is mounted for endwise movement in an opening 131 drilled into door edge 132. A rectangular strike 134 is set into door edge 132 and the outer end 135 of the pressure pin projects into an opening 136 formed in the strike. A compression spring 138 serves to keep pin 130 in a normally retracted position. On the outer face of the strike 134 a tapered recess 140 is fromed with the opening 136 being located in the center of this recess. The recess 140 provides a vertically disposed and inwardly inclined shoulder 141 near outer face 142 of the door 10 and the free edge 94 of the latch bolt 90 normally engages this shoulder to hold the door closed.

Referring now to the operation of the door locking apparatus 30, this operation is believed to be apparent from the above description but briefly, when the shaft 40 is in the unlocked (FIG. 3) position, the set 11 functions in the normal manner to latch and unlatch the door 10. Whenever one of the handle knobs of the set 11 is turned, the pressure pin 130 is moved endwise to push the latch bolt 90 out of the recess 140 so that the edge 94 clears the shoulder 141 whereupon the door 10 can 6 be swung open. As the door is opened, the latch bolt is snapped outwardly by the action of the tensioner 96 to a position where it will automatically latch the door when the door is again closed.

The door locking device 30 is used for the same purpose as a night latch to secure the door 10. Once the shaft 40 is turned to locked position, the locking cam 84 engages the stop 101 so that the keeper 90 cannot be forced out of engagement with the strike 134. Thus, a burglar tool such as a strip of plastic cannot be used to release the keeper 90 and the construction and arrangement of the several parts of the device is such that the door will reengages the stop 101 so that the keeper 90 cannot be forced Whenever a resident of the house Ieaves the premises, he uses his key 55 to operate the lock mechanism 48 and turn the shaft 40 to the locked or FIG. '2 position. This places the cam 84 in contact with the stop 101 so that the latch set 11 can no longer be operated to depress the keeper 90 and release the door.

If the key 55 is lost on the street, and assuming a spare key is available to the resident, he can renter the house and resecure the door by manipulating the device 30 from inside the house. This is done by pulling the shaft 40 inwardly to disengage the lugs 67 and 68 as is shown in FIG. 6 and then turning said shaft to the locked position. The disconnected lock mechanism 48 then is no longer capable of turning the shaft 40 and a person finding the lost key cannot use it to gain illegal entry to the house. It is quite a simple matter to change the lock mechanism 48 when the key is lost or if the householder has reason to suspect that a duplicate key has been made. Once the mechanism 48 has been replaced and a duplicate key obtained, the device 30 will function as before without the need for further alteration.

From the foregoing, it will be seen an exceptionally simple yet effective device has been provided for locking a door. Since the device 30 is mounted in the door jamb, there is no need to further weaken or mar the door by drilling additional holes therein. Although the lock mechanism 48 can be picked there is no protruding part which can be readily gripped by a tool to force open the device 30.

The plastic parts are exceptionally strong and will operate quietly and without lubrication for a much longer period than a conventional night latch of the like made of metal.

We claim:

1. A door locking device comprising inner and outer blocks each having a hole extending therethrough, clamping means for securing the inner end and outer blocks to opposite faces of a door jamb near a side face thereof, a rotatably mounted shaft projecting through the inner block hole and having an inner end by which said shaft can be rotated and an outer end, turning means including a key for rotating the shaft from the outer end thereof, a locking cam on the shaft, a latch bolt mounted in the side face of the door jamb to engage and retain a door in closed position, a stop associated with the latch bolt and projecting towards the shaft, said stop being engaged by the locking cam when the shaft is rotated in one direction from either end thereof to lock the latch bolt against disengagement with the door, said turning means comprising an adapter pin slidably and rotatably supported by the outer end of the shaft, a drive lug on the adapter pin, a driven lug 0n the outer end of the shaft normally engaged by the drive lug, said drive and driven lugs being circumferentially spaced apart to permit a predetermined amount of relative rotation between the adapter pin and the shaft.

2. A door locking device as claimed in claim 1, and including means for limiting rotary movement of the shaft relative to the inner block.

3. A door locking device as claimed in claim 2, in which said limiting means comprises an H-shaped passageway formed on the periphery of the shaft adjacent the inner end thereof, a key on the inner block projecting radially into the hole therein, said key moving through the H-shaped passageway when the shaft is rotated and moved endwise.

4. A door locking device comprising inner and outer blocks each having a hole extending therethrough, clamping means for securing the inner and outer blocks to opposite faces of a door jamb near a side edge thereof and with the holes substantially aligned with a door jamb opening, a shaft slidably and rotatably supported within the inner block hole and having an inner end accessible to permit rotation of the shaft from said end, a keyoperated lock mechanism supported within the outer block hole, an adapter pin slidably and rotatably supported by the outer end of the shaft, a drive lug on the adapter pin, a driven lug on the outer end of the shaft normally engaged by the drive lug, said drive and driven lugs being circumferentially spaced apart to permit a predetermined amount of relative rotation between the adapter pin and the shaft, a locking cam on the shaft, a latch bolt mounted in the side edge of the door jamb and being adapted to engage and retain a door in closed position, a stop projecting into the door jamb opening between the latch bolt and the shaft, said stop being engaged by the locking cam when the shaft is rotated to lock the latch bolt against disengagement with the door, said shaft being movable by a pull exerted on the inner end thereof to disengage the drive and driven lugs while maintaining the locking cam in engagement with the stop.

5. A door locking device as claimed in claim 4, in which said shaft is mounted for limited endwise movement.

6. A door locking device as claimed in claim 4, and including resilient means biasing the latch bolt away from the shaft.

7. A door locking device as claimed in claim 4, in which said clamping means comprises a pair of connecting bolts having heads contacting the inner block, a knob on the inner end of the shaft normally covering the heads of the pair of connecting bolts, said shaft and said pair of connecting bolts each being extensible to permit variation in the spacing between the inner and outer blocks.

8. A door locking device as claimed in claim 7, in which all of the aforementioned parts except the pair of connecting bolts are formed of plastic.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,144,537 6/1915 Gabriel 292108 1,410,829 3/1922 Morgenthau 70140 1,526,636 2/1925 Hampton 70150 3,073,640 1/1963 McBurnie 292254 ALBERT G. CRAIG, 111., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

70379 R; 292210, 219, 254, DIG. 38 

